Everywhere, NJ
by rampage tonberry
Summary: AU, Sei/Z,I/N,Sq/Ra, Q/Ri, Sel/L. Set in, well, NJ. Cars, trains, apartment buildings, smalltown college life. What if they all lived in our world...
1. Forward

FOREWARD to Everytown, NJ  
  
Everytown NJ is set basically in a small town in NJ. It has a small university and a train station from which it takes less than an hour to get to NYC. All of the charachters are versions of those owned by Squaresoft. Because, basically, the Irvine portayed herein wasn't raised in Galbaldia Garden, hell he was raised in Texas. Seifer wasn't a SeeD candidate, he was a highschool student once.   
  
However, they're still themselves, to some degree. Irvine still womanizes, Seifer still smirks, and Zell still adores martial arts. Rajin still says "ya know". But Fujin has two eyes and speaks in full sentences. Or she will later. Whatever.   
  
I hope that you all enjoy this one because I think its one of the best things I've written for here. The reason I put a seperate forward on here is because I wanted to keep the astetics of the fic the way they are.   
  
~Fira 


	2. New Boy Enters Scene

New Boy  
  
Irvine jumped off of the stairs, lugging his two duffel bags, and stepped away from the platform, trying to avoid bumping into the many people, most in business suits, that were trying to board the train. As he walked into the stone building that was the train station, he looked down at his duffel bags. They contained the last of his clothing and supplies, the last load that he was bringing to his apartment. He knew that, even though he was living in a college town- two or three small colleges made their homes in this little town, he would never be a college grad himself. He barley made it through highschool.  
Not that he wasn't smart. That wasn't the problem. He had good SAT scores- a 1250 last time he took them. He was better at verbal than math, but not by a lot. It was just that Irvine didn't come from a good background. Orphaned as a kid, raised in the south by a father who drunk and a mother who nagged. Both of them constantly. And now he'd gotten a job working as a mechanic at a car repair shop. In New Jersey. It should be good work, he thought, and this place is really close to New York. He looked back at the train. He knew it would take him there if he needed to.   
Irvine got out his map of the town, found the apartment building, and trudged up the hill towards it. The sidewalk was clean, grass well trimmed, and what people he saw seemed friendly. The houses were painted in conservative colors and so were the cars. It didn't seem like a town where anything happened.  
He couldn't quite remember his way around. Once he got to his apartment, which rested in a reddish stone building that looked like it had been built 160 years ago for its sagging condition, he took his key out of his khaki "army style" jacket and fumbled with the lock until it clicked open. He had eaten breakfast at his hotel, so he could go down to the 'shop once he had locked his bags in his room. That task took about five seconds. He went back out of the building and eventually found the car repair shop.   
It was behind an Exxon station four blocks from his apartment. Though all of the doors and windows were shut and blacked out to prevent visibility, faint music could be heard several feet away. Irvine guessed that it was really loud in there. He could even tell the song- Green Day's KING FOR A DAY. One of his favorites.   
He gently pushed open the door, wondering what it was like inside.  
  
The Owner  
  
Seifer adjusted the mirror as he sat in his custom- built Hyper 1-0-9, silver with black and red flames, gills, with a Wrangler-style body build. It looked like a convertible, with the canvas roof, but there really wasn't a roof at all. It was just open. He was planning on, once they finished college, taking his boyfriend and everything he wanted to keep and driving out to California. This car was made for that trip.   
He knew the whole route, too. He'd planned it out. Drive south to Miami in the summer, and hang in the clubs for a while. Go through Texas and never stop anywhere for too long. The two of them wouldn't be welcome- liberal, democratic, atheistic, oh yeah, and gay. So they wouldn't stay anywhere more than one night. Then they'd make their way up to SoCal. There was more of a car market there. New Yorkers didn't need cars. They had the fucking metro.   
Seifer hadn't always lived in this little town. He'd grown up in London. He still had the accent. And the attitude. When he was 17, his father had gotten a job transfer. He'd come here, to this pathetic little town. Started highschool. And that's when he met Zell. It had been four years ago, but he could still remember the exact moment. He'd driven into the student parking lot, gotten out of his car, and slung his bookbag over his shoulder. He'd heard a shout and looked up.   
A guy, who looked like an older classman, was being threatened by a younger, and shorter, blonde boy, and hiding behind him was a still younger student. Seifer walked closer and he could decipher the conversation. The eldest student was blubbering an apology to the blonde, and the youngest student looked quiet upset, but all Seifer could see was the muscular boy in the middle, clenching his fists and glaring at the bully.  
"Gurney, you're gonna leave Skrit alone from here on in. Right?"  
"Yes Dincht." The older boy looked defeated.  
"What seems to be the problem here?" Seifer's accent caught all of them off guard, who turned to look at him. Seifer blinked, as the blue eyes of the muscular blonde drew him closer.   
"Uh well uh I was just having a conversation with little Skrit over there and this guy, Zell, came over and started threatening me and uh..." The older boy, probably Gurney judging from the conversation that he heard, shrugged and looked nervous.   
"He was beating Skrit up." Zell shrugged, and unclenched his fists. "I had to do something. Hey wait, you're new here, aren't you?"  
"What tipped you off, the accent or that you hadn't seen me gracing your hallways?" Seifer smirked. Taking his opportunity, Gurney ran off in one direction, and Skrit in the other.  
"Both, and that nobody else bothers to intercept when Gurney beats someone." Zell crossed his arms and leaned back against the brick wall. "So... what're you doing after school?"  
"It depends." Seifer narrowed his eyes seductivley.  
"On what?" Zell picked up on the older boy's cues.  
"On what you're doing."   
"Well in that case I'm showing you around town."  
"Sounds brilliant."  
Seifer sighed. He loved to reminisce that scene. The showing around town had consisted of going to the college campus and hanging out. They did that for a year, every day, until Seifer more formally asked Zell out. Things had been... the way they are since.  
  
The Mechanic  
  
Zell pushed back with his feet, rolling out from underneath the beat-up Ford Explorer that he was working with.   
"Hey Raj, I didn't know I was gonna need to do axel work. Can you get this guy higher up for me?"  
"Sure thing, ya know?" Rajin, the assistant mechanic, operated the lift, rising the car a few feet higher than it had been.  
"Thanks man!" Zell grabbed his tools and went to work, tightening cables and removing grit as he worked. He had three loves in his life, no four- Seifer, music, martial arts, and cars. The latter three not nessicarily in that order. Those three had always been his passions, until his 10th grade year when a certain senior... well, changed everything. Now they echoed the same years in the local college- Zell in the Sophmore year, and Seifer a senior.   
Zell almost dropped the unwieldy tool he was working with when the door opened. A shaft of brilliant afternoon light flooded into the dim office and made its way into the main work garage.   
"Hello?" A thick southern voice drawled. Zell pushed up his safety glasses and jogged into the main office to meet this newcomer. He signed Rajin to turn down the music so that he could talk to the guy.  
In the door stood a guy, about 6'1, redhead. His hair was long for a guy. He wore a khaki army jacket, jeans, and really big army boots, and a nervous smile.   
"Hey wait, you're not Fujin's newest recruit, are ya?" Fujin was their scout, who dealt with the hiring agencies and unions.  
"I'm not sure, but somebody hired me here. I'm Irvine Kineas." He grinned broadly and extended a hand. Zell pulled off his grimy right glove and shook Irvine's.  
"I'm Zell Dincht, head mechanic. Over there's Rajin, the assistant. I can't remember what Seifer, he's the boss, was going to do with you but I'm sure we can find out." Zell walked towards the showroom, opened the door. "Hey Seif, new guy's here."  
Zell propped the door open with a hand and leaned jauntilly on it. He watched Seifer turn around partially, register Zell, and then jump out of the car. Seifer jogged up, and Zell moved aside so that both could look at the new employee. Irvine did a mock salute.   
Seifer stood and sized up Irvine. "You'll work out okay." 


	3. Artist Creates Stir

The Artist  
  
Squall groaned as his alarm went off. He hit the snooze button and rolled back over. Today he had that model coming over, didn't he? His art instructor had made him take a break from doing nude men, his specialty, and do a woman. So he was going to do a portrait, of a woman. Fully clothed. He had borrowed the outfit from his instructor. He simply had no interest in seeing a nude woman stand in front of him.   
Squall Leonheart had been drawn to this small town for its theatre, all the way from Seattle. Specifically, for its theatre sets. He wanted to be a set and costume designer someday. Or that's what he had wanted. Before he became interested in the large-canvas oil painting. He had enough canvases to wallpaper a large room, floor and celing included. He could never be as interested in another person as he was in art. It just consumed him completley.   
The snooze alarm went off. Squall shook his head as if to clear it and pushed aside the covers to sit up. His roomate had starting living in his girlfriend's room, so Squall didn't have to bother with another person. The fact that he'd painted the walls black with flames and had black silk sheets on his bed had also helped to scare off a roomate.   
Squall pulled on a black turtleneck and jeans, and set out to the dining hall to obtain his breakfast. Once he had sat down with his black (bad) coffee and his bagel, a familliar voice called him.  
"Hey Squall!" Squall didn't even have to turn around in his seat. The owner of the voice was Zell, who sat down across from Squall, with a tray of two tofu-dogs and orange juice.  
"How do you eat that stuff for breakfast?"  
"What stuff?" Zell asked, through a half of a piece of tofu.  
"At least he doesn't eat meat. Like you do." The British accent sat down next to Zell, with coffee and an orange.  
"I don't want to hear the meat lecture again, guys."  
"That because you're getting some?" Seifer laughed wickedly. He was in Squall's art class and knew the situation with the model.  
"No, because I don't want to hear the meat lecture!" Squall blushed.  
"I think he's upset about the fact that you have an agreement with Quistis that you don't have to paint any girls as long as your oils of me are erotic enough..." Zell laughed.  
"I thought you didn't know about that!" Seifer looked shocked.  
"Come on Seif, you submit... pictures... to class..." Squall didn't want to finish the details. They made him jealous of what he couldn't and didn't have. A boyfriend. And a hot one at that.  
"Yea well..." Seifer promplty changed the subject. "So, Zell, what are we going to do with the new guy at the 'shop?"  
"Put him on secretary work, and teach him the trade? I don't suspect that he knows much."  
"I hope he knows some..." Squall perked up his interest at the convorsation between the two mechanics. A new guy?  
"New guy?" Squall voiced his question.  
"Yeah." Zell looked at Seifer, clearly with something on his mind. "Oh yeah, he's got a great southern accent, and the attitude to match. He's like a cowboy, without all the leather." Zell was baiting the hook. And Squall looked like he was going for it. Seifer looked at Zell curiously, but then caught on. Give lonley artist-boy someone more concrete to hold onto. Suddenly Squall looked at his watch.  
"Damnit. I've got that model coming in ten minutes."  
"Better run."  
  
The Model  
  
Rinoa stood at the enterance to the boys dorms. She flipped her hair nonchalantly, and tried to ignore the students that passed by. She'd been hired by a student to pose for an oil painting. He'd said fully clothed. But they always said fully clothed. They never meant it. All male artists, especially the really pathetic ones, simply did oil paintings of people to see naked women. It was the secret to all art. Or so Rinoa thought. But the truth was, she liked posing nude to be drawn. It made her feel pretty.   
One of the students, hotter than the rest of them, caught her eye. Piecey chocolate hair cascaded down his face. He shook it out of his way. His stony eyes scanned the crowd, and caught on Rinoa. She didn't see what she wanted to see in them, which was to say that she didn't see lust, but she saw a recognition.  
"Miss Heartilly?" He asked.  
"Yes?"  
"I hired you as a model."  
"Oh, so you're the artist..." Her tone was undeniably seductive.  
Squall took a step back.  
"I'm an artist, yes..."  
"So do you just want me to strip or should we get to know each other a little better first?"  
"I specified fully clothed."  
"Everyone says fully clothed."  
"...How do I explain this. Here's how- I'm not interested. I'm paying you to be drawn. And only because my instructor wants me to paint a girl."  
"Very well then Mister Leonheart, wasn't that your name, I'll pose fully clothed." What is this guy? He didn't have to bite my head off like that... And he obviously doesn't know what a good time I'd give him.. She followed him to his room, where he turned on the lights.   
"I've got to set up... Um... I need you to wear this." He threw her a black turleneck jacket and a black miniskirt. She started to strip to change right there, and he absorbed himself with setting up the large canvas and the lights. He set her up in a chair and began to paint.  
  
The Instructor  
  
Quistis pushed her reading glasses up onto her head so she could get a closer look at her prized student's newest oil masterpiece. It showed a dark haired, light skinned girl wearing a black shirt surrounded by glistening white snow. However, the girl still looked like she was surrounded in a pillar of smoke. All in all, it was gorgeous. She knew that she was practically drooling.  
"Squall. Nice job..."  
"Thanks."  
"You know, I think you're going to ace this course."  
"Thanks."  
"Seifer, too."  
"Can I see his works?" Squall asked.  
"Well... ok. Just don't let them change your opinion of his model." Quistis said tenativley.  
"They really ARE eroticicsms of Zell, that's not just the joke... right?" Squall asked incredulously.  
"Yeah..." Quistis led Squall to her gallery, and then to the first section- A, for Almasy.  
Squall started to browse through the pictures. First was an undeniably erotic sadist and massochist -esque picture, Zell wearing only strips of what looked like leather (but Squall knew that the vegan boys would only have used pleather), and chained to a wall. The next one looked like some fantasy movie thing- Zell wearing a Xena-esque outfit, in a woodsy setting. The pictures continued on these themes, including a few that fit the category of bestiality. Quistis stood back and watched Squall look through.  
"So, can you still respect Seifer?"  
"This is just making me want to go into their dorm room one night and join them..."  
"That sounds like a good idea..." Quistis laughed.  
"What, you worried that all the good guys are gay?"  
"Why would I care? I was practically sallivitating at that girl. Who is she?"  
"Oh, the model? Miss Rinoa Heartilly."  
"I'm hiring her for my next oil. And nude."  
"She wanted me to do her nude. I practically had to wrestle her into the clothes."  
Quistis got a far away look in her eyes.  
"Okay, that wasn't something I wanted to know." Squall joked.  
"What?"  
"I practically saw you fighting her into clothes, and making sure to touch her right."  
"Oh, you're sick."  
"Not as sick as Seifer."  
They laughed, and continued this friendly banter all afternoon. 


	4. Actor Schemes Quietly

The Director  
  
Xu drove her battered Honda up to the Fire Cross Car Repair. It was only a few blocks. Said car had been hit by another one in the campus parking lot, and against her better judgement she'd let a friend of a friend handle it. The friend happened to be Squall, who she knew from working at the theatre on campus. He painted the sets. She helped direct the plays. Her friend Nida acted in them.   
She parked the car in the lot and walked in. Thankfully, the British egomaniac wasn't there. His muscle-bound guy Rajin was, and so was a new guy that she hadn't met before. He had long, shimmering aburn hair, and (as she'd find out) a thick southern drawl. She found him intensley hot. He happened to be seated behind the desk in the office.  
"Hey." She walked into the garage. The new guy looked up, and then down at the desktop to consult the book.  
"Xu?" he drawled.  
"Yeah. The car's that way." She pointed.   
Irvine had Rajin go drive it in and get it set up. What they needed to do was mostly exterior work, taking the panels off and reshaping them. While Rajin was setting up, Irvine wanted to know more about Xu, and Xu about Irvine.  
"So you're from..."  
"Texas."  
"Conservative?" She inquired.  
"Yeah, but I don't bother with that much. I'm not too far right, no matter what the people think I should be." Irvine shrugged.  
"Well, you should fit right in with THIS town. Right wing conservative Republicans. All of em." Xu said it as if it were a curse.  
"And what about you?"  
"Liberal. But then again so are... well, enough people at the college."   
Irvine mumbled something under his breath, and Xu thought he said "well baby, we can't let that come between us..."  
"Say that a little louder?" Xu put a hand on her hip.  
"We can't let that come between us." He looked at her seductivley.  
"You're quite the charmer, aren't you."  
"I'd ask you out but I don't know where to go here. I just got into town this week."  
"Well I know a lovley little lunch place." Xu smiled coyly. It looked like it was a date.  
  
The Actor  
  
Nida sat in the campus theatre, more specifically on the stage, with the beautiful set that had been designed by... Squall, though he hadn't finished it yet. He was trying to puzzle out Xu's stage directions. He and two other guys, Watts and Zone, were to preform the comedy "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)" in three weeks. They had their lines memorized, but Xu's enterances and exits were confusing him. She had marks for coming out of trap door #4. There were three trap doors.   
And that wasn't the worst problem. Zone had a tendency to get sick, and worse, stagefright, and Watts couldn't not call someone Sir. He had been kicked out of the army a few years ago and was still recovering. So Nida had to find two new guys to play the parts of Jess and Dan. He, of course, was Adam. He liked playing the girls. He was thinking of maybe getting some other guys in to do the parts. New faces and fresh talent.   
He'd been looking around. He'd seen a guy that could pull off a good Dan, provided they modified Dan to make him more fun and less stuffy. He couldn't remember the kids'd name but he knew it started with a Z. Zaller, maybe. He hung out with the Brittish boy. They were lovers, apparently. He didn't know about Jess, though. Tall, maybe with an interesting accent, and of course for Jess ego is a requirment. He could start asking around.  
Nida's gaze wandered off onto the set working. It was black and white, striped and blotched and complteley modern. There were three trap doors, a bridge over the set, five staircases, and it was amazing and dizzying. Nida woudn't have even noticed the set, however, if it wasn't that his idol had created it. It was a Squall Leonheart masterpiece. Nida thought that Squall was a god on earth. He practically drooled on the set.  
He looked at his watch. It was lunchtime. He walked downtown to this resturant that he liked. They had really good fries if you ordered the right thing. He walked in the door and before the hostess could seat him-  
"Hey Nida!" his friend Xu waved. She, and an admittedly gorgeous guy, tall wearing a tan trench coat, were obviously on a date. Nida walked over. They hadn't ordered yet, so they'd just gotten here.   
"Irvy, this is Nida. He's the lead in the play I was telling you about."  
"Hey," he said, and shook Nida's hand.   
"Can you act?"  
"Yeah, guess so... I was in plays in highschool."  
"I was looking for new cast members. I'm firing Zone and Watts- they can't act. You'd be perfect for one of the roles." They all exchanged glances.  
"Why not?" he shrugged. Nida was tapped on the shoulder by the hostess.  
"Will you be joining them?"  
"Yeah, he will." Xu inserted.  
"I don't want to intrude on your date..."  
"That's okay." Xu and Irvine said almost in unison. So the hostess gestured to the waitress who got another menu and place setting.  
"So Nida, if you do fire your two fellow actors, and get Irvy as... Jess, you'd want him for, then who wouldyou use as Daniel?" Xu put on her "showman" mentality.  
"Well... there's this blond kid I've seen around, hanging around Squall..." he trailed off.  
Xu whispered to Irvine that Squall was Nida's crush, and Irvine nodded.  
"Which blonde kid, the Brittish boy or his... boyfriend?" Xu was clearly going to say something to the effect of "main lay" but decided to go with the polite wording.  
"The younger one. With the tatoo."  
"Oh, you mean Zell?" Irvine interjected.  
"Zell. Yeah. Him."  
"Isn't Daniel supposed to be a serious part?"  
"I was going to fix that anway. I'm doing Adam kind of wussy, and I can do that because I'm doing the Adam role, and I can do the Jess role sort of cowboy... and then I'm doing Daniel punk. So its more interesting, charachter-wise." Nida explained.  
Talk about the play took up the rest of lunch, and then they headed back in their opposite directions- Nida back to the college, Xu downtown to do some shopping, and Irvine to the car repair shop.  
  
The Cheerleader  
  
Selphie sat on her brother's bed in his dorm. He wasn't back yet, and he probably wouldn't expect her here. She was supposed to be off at a meet. But she couldn't go. She'd failed the drug test. She sweared that it was second-hand smoke, but they were all smart enough to know that you didn't smoke extacy. Oh well.   
The door opened and Nida walked in. His eyes were buried deep in a tattered copy of "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)" and he wasn't even paying attention.   
"Hi Nida!" Selphie chirruped. Nida dropped his book.  
"Damnit Selphie what the hell are you doing here?"  
"My my what language. Mom wouldn't like it."  
"Didn't you have a meet today? Tri-State championships."  
"Betcha didn't know that they gave cheerleaders drug tests."  
"Okay. So the state knows that your boyfriend gets you drugs. What are you going to tell mom?"  
"She doesn't have to know."  
"She'll know you missed the meet."  
"I didn't feel good."  
"I guess that works, but if she asks me I'm not lying for you."  
"Fair enough... so, how's Squall?" Selphie grinned.  
"Shut up."  
"He still doesn't know you exsist, does he?"  
"No. I don't think so. I keep hoping that this play or that play will direct his attention, but..." Nida said hopelessly.  
"Maybe you should go into artists modeling." She grinned wickedly again. She loved teasing him about Squall.  
"Selphie, that's sick." Nida said, but his mind wandered off to a fantasy, where he stood nude and Squall put down his paintbrush and walked over...  
"I'd get his attention..."  
They bickered on, about what actions Nida should take for Squall's attention. 


	5. Owner Sets Up

The New Boy Forms A Plan  
  
Irvine tossed and turned in his bed, in his apartment. He'd gone out to dinner the last night with Squall, Zell, and Seifer. Squall had looked crushed when Seifer casually mentioned that he'd seen Xu and Irvine together, and Zell brought up that the two looked like a couple, and he looked worse when Irvine confirmed that they were one. So that proved that Squall was both at least gay and single. And then he thought back to Xu's comment about Nida being completley into Squall. Irvine could see what Nida saw in Squall. However, the cowboy was straight. So that gave him the idea. He brought it up the next morning with Seifer over the whir of a power tool Zell was using on Xu's car.  
"Seifer, ever done any matchmaking?"  
"That's a weird question." Seifer put down the book he was reading. Irvine noticed it was the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, volume 4 (of a trilogy). Figures. Book was written by a Brit.  
"Well, I've been thinking..."  
"About?" He was slightly annoyed.  
"Well, Squall. And this other guy that I met, Nida."  
"Yeah, I've heard of the boy." Seifer shrugged.  
"Well, he's apparently drooling over Squall. Xu told me, when we met him at this resturant, and he blushed like hell. So that confirms it. And I don't know if you noticed, but..." Irvine was cut off.  
"We told Squall about you. He seemed to think that it meant you were free, and pretty much open and waiting for him to come in and claim you. Guess not." Seifer looked thoughtful.  
"I think those two would be perfect."  
"Hm... Hey Zell!"   
Zell put down his power tool and trotted over. He put an arm around Seifer's waist and looked at him to continue.  
"Irvine thinks that Nida and Squall should hook up."  
"That would improve a lot around campus..." Zell said.  
"What?"  
"Well, Nida's alternatley a bitch and sappy. When I see him. He's deprived and drooling over Leonheart. And Squall is just deprived."  
"How to do this, though... Squall doesn't know the boy is alive." Seifer brought it to reality.  
"Well... Squall's an artist, right? He use live models?" Irvine wanted to know.   
Zell and Seifer shared a devious grin. They had a plan.  
  
The Owner Makes Arrangements  
  
Seifer walked into his art classroom. His teacher, Quistis, sat staring intensly at an oil that he could not see. He walked around and stood behind her, so that he could see it. It was of a dark haired girl in black in a pillar of darkness, that was surrounded by snow. Seifer found it so depressing that it could only be the work of Squall Leonheart.   
"Quistis?"  
"mmhm?" Quistis didn't even break her gaze.  
"Would you be able to arrange something for Squall's next art assigment?"  
"What do you have planned, Seifer?" Asked Quistis, still staring at the painting.  
"Well, Squall's been kinda lonley latley and we... we found a guy who is totally drooling over him..."  
"You want me to force Squall to paint said guy nude?" Quistis said, putting it in black and white.  
"Exactly."  
"You're going to have to get me something in return."   
"And what would that be..." Seifer trailed off, looking down at the picture that Quistis was so fixated on.  
"Send Rinoa Heartilly to my office tomorrow. I don't care how you do it. Just do it." Quistis said, with some force.  
Seifer shrugged and left her office. He walked across campus, away from a building called BC, or Brother's College where Quistis taught art and to the dorms. He found Squall's dorm unlocked and he snuck in. Once inside, he flipped through the caller I-D, eventually finding a number for Heartilly Rinoa. He scribbled it down, and went to his dorm to do some plotting.  
He eventually decided to tell her more or less the truth. He'd say that his art instructor was impressed with the work that Squall had done and she wanted to meet the model. Yeah, that was it. And the truth, for the most part.   
Shakily, he dialed the number. A gentle, femenine voice said "Hello" at the other end.  
"Hi. Is this Ms. Heartilly?"  
"Yeah, I'm Rinoa. Who are you?"  
"I'm Seifer, an art student."  
"Are you calling to set up an apointment? You need a model?"  
"No, I'm calling on the buisness of my instructor. A few days ago a friend of mine painted you, chap called SquallLeonheart, and gave it in to the woman who teachers our class. Ms. Trepe, that's the instructor, was really quite taken with it and wanted to meet the model in the painting."  
"I've never heard a request like that before. Does she do this often?"  
"I wouldn't know. My model's my boyfriend and she knows him." Seifer laughed.  
"I'm quite flattered really... when did she want me to meet her? Where?"  
"I don't know... if you suggest a good place, and then a time, she'll meet you there."  
Rinoa did, and Seifer scribbled it down on the same paper (a paper napkin he found in Squall's kitchen) that he'd written Rinoa's number. He ran it over to Quistis. He didn't disturb her, just dropped the paper on her head (she didn't move) and walked out. He headed back to the dorms (god he felt like a courier today) to relax.  
  
The Mechanic Relaxes  
  
Zell was stretched out on the bed in the dorm he shared with Seifer, watching a DVD of the Dune miniseries that had aired on Sci Fic Channel some time ago when the door opened and Seifer walked in. Seifer hung up his trench coat, stretched his arms out, and sighed. Then he lay down next to Zell, who paused the film. And it was his favorite part too, right at the end, when Feyd Ruatha-Harkonen fought Paul "Muad'Dib" Atredis to the death.  
"So, were you sucessful?" Zell inquired of his lover.  
"More or less. I had to fix Quistis an informal date with some model before she'd agree to fix Squall with the assignment. I did all of that so now we pretty much did what we can do. What're you watching?" Seifer ended with a nonsequitor.  
"The Dune miniseries. The first time they made Dune into a movie it was really confusing... and the actors are hotter in this one."  
"The one who plays Paul is hot once he's been out in the desert for a while and he looks all scruffy and gritty." Seifer remembered how much he liked to see Zell kind of sweaty and flushed like that, like when they went hiking, though Zell didn't notice.  
"No way... I like Feyd."  
"Feyd is a villan! He's a Harkonen. Son of gelatinous blob Baron Harkonen."  
"You didn't read the book, did you?"  
"No."  
"Well, Jessica, you know, Paul's mom, is the daughter of Baron Harkonen. A Bene Gesserit, the "witches", blackmails him because she needs the genes for the Kwisatch Haderach, or messiah, breeding programs. And Feyd isn't like the son of Baron Harknonen or whatever, he's the son of Abdulard Harkonen, the Baron's brother."  
"And the Baron doesn't have any kids? I mean, besides Jessica." Seifer looked confused.  
"Seif, the Baron's gay. That's the only thing I hate about Frank Herbert- his most gross charachter is gay. And his others are all staight." Zell shared.  
"Well, back to the original topic. You like the villan?" Seifer pressed.  
"I love bad boys..." Zell kissed Seifer gently, but Seifer turned gentleness to passion. It looked like they'd be quite busy for the rest of the afternoon, movie forgotten. 


	6. Teacher and Model Date

The Artist Gets a Message  
  
Squall groaned as he played back his anatomy painting instructor's message again. She was meddling with his assignment once again. This time she wanted him to do a male nude, but she would supply the model. She didn't say who the model was. He also had to do some talking to the model to find out who he was or something. This fact made him suspicious. It looked like Quistis was up to something, but Squall was too tired to think about it. It was early in the morning and he needed coffee.  
Coffee, however, was the great legacy in his family. Most people did not know that Squall Leonheart-Loiere was heir to a great coffee empire. His father was the current CEO of Starbucks. Laguna's father had run it before him. It was only natural that Squall would want to run it next. He didn't really, but he would probably end up getting played into it like everything else in his life. He'd been talked into a prep school for most of his school years, and then sent to this little college in the middle of nowhere.   
Squall slogged down to the parking lot. His life seemed to consist now of early mornings, which meant coffee, which he was trying to escape. That, and lonliness. Envying the happiness of the couples around him, Seifer and Zell, now Irvine and Xu. He'd so hoped that the boy he'd heard about, Irvine, would work out. It didn't.  
He drove to the nearest Starbucks, parking next to a car that, from the way it was jacked up, said that it's owner was in the car parts shop, and another that was as close as possible to the door of the Blockbuster Video. Squall pushed open the tinted glass door. There was no line, suprisingly, and he got right up to the front.  
"Double mocha expresso." He flashed his ID, startling the new worker into submission.  
"Immediatley, Sir!" the guy gibbered, almost knocking over his fellow worker in his haste. Worker #2 looked up at Squall, and began to apologize for his friend.  
"Sorry about Watts. He's kind of... well... spazzy. I'm Zone, by the way."  
"Nice to meet you. Squall Leonheart." Squall was impatient with these people.  
"Leonheart, eh? Well, that explains it. Here's your espresso." Zone took the paper cup from Watts and handed the steaming drink to Squall, who nodded and walked out. These employees were insane, must be.  
  
The Model Has A Date  
  
Rinoa pushed her raven hair behind her ear and checked her makeup in the overhead mirror before stepping out of her sedan and walking through the parking lot and into Niko, the sushi resturant where she was meeting Quistis Trepe for lunch. When she asked the man at the front, he pointed her to the tatami room that she had reserved. An attendant led her to it, and waited until she had removed her shoes before opening the bamboo screen and sending her in.   
Looking directly at her was the most intellegent looking woman she had ever seen. Quistis's hair was swept back and pinned up, but several blond wisps fell to frame her face. Delicate silver rimmed glasses completed the image, as did the black turtlenecked sweater vest over flowing blood-red silk sleeves. Though Quistis had been kneeling, she stood to shake Rinoa's hand as the screen was slid back into place.  
"Miss Heartilly? I'm Quistis Trepe." Though her words were formal, Quistis's tone was friendly and somewhat dazed.  
"Pleased to meet you." Rinoa slightly curtsied, then moved to kneel at the table across from where Quistis had moved back to kneel.   
The waitress brought in two steaming bowls of miso soup and the two women began to eat as they spoke.  
"I bet you're wondering why I wanted to meet you." Quistis started, knowing she sounded like a teacher.  
"Yes, but I'm more curious as to why you had the British student of yours set it up." Rinoa laughed.  
"Seifer? Oh, he owed me a favor so I made him be my secretary." Quistis gestured vaguley with the hand containing her empty spoon.  
"Why'd he owe you a favor?" Rinoa asked, then took another sip of soup.  
"Oh... you really want to know? It's kind of weird." Quistis tried to shrug it off.  
"Now I'm curious." Rinoa looked Quistis in her eyes. Rinoa thought that Quistis's eyes were really pretty.  
"Well... the boy that painted your portrait, Squall? Seifer's pretty good friends with him and he decided that Squall was lonley and needed to be set up with this other boy he knows, Nida. Squall has never noticed Nida in his life, so Seifer thought that Squall would have to notice him, if..." Quistis trailed off, and let the sentence be finished by Rinoa.  
"I see! Squall has to paint Nida now?" Rinoa saw in a flash. She was good with relationships and setups.  
"Yeah. The plan is that Squall has to interview Nida, get to know him, and then paint a portrait that shows the true spirit of Nida." Quistis disclosed her secret trump card to Rinoa with pride.  
"How's Nida feel about all this?" Rinoa inquired as the soup was replaced with salad.  
"Oh, he's apparently already swooning for Squall. Something like that." Quistis's response would have sounded vagley important if it wasn't followed with the crunch of iceberg lettuce being chewed.  
"And you're going to help this?" Rinoa was incredulous.  
"Already did. Set up the appointment for tomorrow. For Nida to show at his apartment, anway. We just have to hope that Squall... well... yeah, whatever." Followed with more salad.  
"So now I can ask why you wanted to meet with me." Rinoa was kind of ignoring the salad. More interested in Quistis.  
"Oh... well, to be honest... I'd never seen anyone as beautiful as you are." Quistis was shy about admitting it, but was glad that it was out.  
  
The Instructor Gets More Than She Baragned For  
  
Quistis was stunned by what Rinoa did next. She leaned across the table to whisper in Quistis's ear.  
"You're not so bad yourself. You could have been a model if you wanted to." Then her tounge flicked out to touch Quistis's ear, and she sat back with a hungry look in her eyes. The two continued to flirt over lunch, as they ordered sushi and then hot tea afterwards. Rinoa invited Quistis back to her place for the night.  
  
~~~  
Right. Sorry that last bit was so short, I just was having difficulty writing all of that, maintaining tension and never giving a release and all that. And I'm also quite sorry about not updating this bitch in forever, i've just been busy with other projects (stories that are non-fic, as well as fanart which i'll be sending to Julie and Darksquall if they want it). 


	7. Director Has Bad Luck

xu- nida-selphie  
  
The Director Has Bad Luck  
  
Xu rolled over and illuminated the display on her watch. It was already 6! She had to get up, she had class today. She sat up and realized that she wasn't in her dorm- there was only one bed and no desk. To her left lay Irvine, stretched out, still asleep. Damn, had she really?... Yeah, she must have. She fumbled around for her clothing, got dressed quickly and left. Had she really had that much to drink?   
She stumbled down the steps and out into the parking lot, before realizing that her car was still at the shop. Well, she'd have to walk back to campus then. It was only a couple of blocks. She staggered to the corner, waiting for the light to change so she could cross to the other side.  
She didn't even see it coming.  
The squeal of tires. And then... knocked backwards. Pain. Heavy object, smooth cold metal, crushing. Blackness. Nothing.  
  
Sirens. Policemen leading a man out of a banged-up car, handcuffing him. Arresting him for drunk driving. Emergency technicians taking the bloody remains of a body out from underneath the streetlamp that the car had smashed into. The body is loaded into the ambulance. No need for any forensic investigations here.  
  
The Actor Mourns  
  
Nida picked up the phone in his dorm, expecting his mom or Selphie.   
"Hey, Nida's dorm, you probably have a wrong number..." he answered as he always did.  
"Nida... hey. Its... Its Irvine. I... oh god..." Irvine sounded desperate, and distraught.  
"What happened?!?" Nida demanded.  
"Its Xu... it... she was... hit by a car this morning. Drunk driver. Leaving my apartment..." he trailed off.  
"Where was she hit?"   
"On the corner of Oak... and Main..."   
"And you're back in your apartment?"  
"No, I'm at the repair shop."  
"I'll be right over."  
Nida didn't even hang the phone up correctly in his rush to get down to the repair shop. He debated taking his car but it was easier just to run. Even blocks away he could see the downed telephone pole... and the blood. When he noticed the blood he was right beside the yard for a preschool, and he had to clutch at the fence to keep from falling over. NO! It... This couldn't have happened!!!  
She... damnit! She was just there yesterday... just alive yesterday and now... Xu would never experience anything else. She'd never see the play finished, she'd never get married, she'd never be a famous director... there was so much.   
After what seemed like hours of just standing there, Nida pulled himself together to walk to the site of the crash. It'd been partially cleaned up as he watched, the road cleared of debris and opened up for traffic again. He managed to get to the end of the fence when his vision started to swim. He fell forwards, expecting to meet grass...  
But he was caught by a strong, capable pair of hands. He looked up to see Irvine looking down at him, concerned. Neither of them could come up with words to say anything. Irvine just helped Nida to look at the crash site, the telephone pole just freshly cleaned of Xu's blood. Nida didn't even know he was crying until Irvine gently wiped away his tears.  
"You know Nida... when we went out last night, all she could seem to talk about was you. I know what you meant to her."  
"Thanks."  
The expression Nida wore was the closest he'd come to a smile in a long time.  
  
The Cheerleader Tries Not To Cheer  
  
Selphie sighed. It'd been two weeks since the accident. She pulled at her dress, feeling uncomfortable, mostly because of the dreary funeral home. And she didn't know much about guy/guy stuff, but she was pretty certain that her brother felt something more for that Cowboy guy than he would admit. Maybe it was because he was being so helpful and nice to Nida, getting him over Xu-the-best-friend's death, and maybe it was just because Irvine was hot, but there was definatley something, because Nida had even stopped talking about Squall. And then there was Xu.  
Selphie had been really attatched to her. They'd been good friends, read some of the same books, worked out together sometimes. It was really nice of Xu to take so much intrest in her friend's little sister, but they'd been fast friends and all.   
And now she just looked like a short-term charachter on Six Feet Under.  
She'd retraced the walk from Irvine's apartment to the corner where... Anway, Xu had passed a large church on her way. Like, large church meaning several buildings. And a telephone pole with "Jesus Saves" written on it.  
Damn, talk about ironic.  
And now here she was, looking at the bottled remains of Xu Gesper. Why? 


	8. Mechanic Gets Bad News

The Cowboy Recounts the Aftermath  
  
Irvine sighed. He started it all. If he'd never moved to this town, he'd never have met Xu, who would never have gotten drunk that night, so she wouldn't have been right at that corner when Cid Kramer, the fuck, had in his drunken stupor smashed his car into her. But... but then he wouldn't have met Nida. Damn, he felt so guilty about it all. He'd wanted to comfort Nida, help him out... Irvine could tell how close Nida and Xu had been. But then... It was so wrong. He shouldn't have feelings for Nida, not like that. But he did. It didn't help that he and Nida had been spending massive amounts of time alone together, re-writing the play that they were going to preform. Zell made sure he was always somewhere else, probably on a scheme with Seifer for yet another set-up for Nida.   
The first one didn't work out, anway. Nida refused to go to Squall's, right after the accident and all. It just fell apart. Irvine couldn't help but be glad about it, even though he knew he shouldn't. It'd been his idea... But he couldn't be involved with Nida. He just can't.   
He'd changed so much. Xu's death, even though he'd not known her too well, though he'd known her better than he should have considering how long he'd known her, had shattered his sense of self. Where he'd come from, he'd been in infallable ladies's man. Now... he was holding back. About a boy!  
A gentle cough caused Irvine to look up. He'd zoned out. Again. Nida smiled at him, seated next to him on the park bench.   
"So, like I was saying... There are times when I come out in a dress, right? Well, how should you and Zell react? I think Zell should be indifferent..."  
"You want me to flirt with you onstage?"  
"I don't know, I just thought it would be... fitting, for the way you're playing Jess... I mean, you don't have to..."  
"Sure." And then with disregard for his better judgement: "It won't be hard. I mean, I bet you're really hot in a dress."  
Nida blushed. Irvine probably shouldn't have said that.  
"Uh, I mean..." Irvine tried to cover.  
"No, you think so?" Nida was clearly interested, and wanted that to be the case.   
"Yeah." Irvine sighed mentally. Maybe... this wouldn't be so bad.  
  
The Owner Spies  
  
Seifer had been taking a walk through the college campus when he saw Irvine and Nida sitting on a bench along the path. Curious, Seifer snuck over to stand behind a tree behind the two. He'd just barley managed to get there to listen when they stopped talking. He turned to look. They were making out! Even if it could have been expected of Irvine, Seifer was suprised. It didn't quite seem like Nida. Too sudden.  
Seifer laughed to himself. How come they'd spent so much time and energy trying to get Nida and Squall together, just for Irvine and Nida to find each other (disregarding that Nida and Squall had been Irvine's idea)? Maybe things happen better on their own, like how wildflowers are so much more beautiful than those that are tamed in perfect rows.   
Back up Seifer, that didn't sound like you. Must have been all that time around Zell's mum or something.   
As the silence continued, Seifer began to wonder if he should interrupt them, congratulate them or something. That'd be mean. He shrugged and continued back to his dorm, unlocking it to find it empty. He didn't think that Zell was down at the shop this morning...  
And then on the mini fridge was a yellow Post-It (tm) note, with the word 'DOCTOR' written on it. Oh yeah, Zell had to go in early this morning for an appointment.   
  
The Mechanic Gets Bad News  
  
Zell sat on the bed in the sterile, shining hospital room, clad only in a flimsy piece of blue floral cloth called a "hospital gown", humming something or other as he awaited the doctor's return. Eventually Dr. Odine returned, frowning into his clipboard.  
"Zell, this news is very bad. I'm afraid that you've contracted the HIV virus."  
"WHAT!?!?!" Zell's eyes went wide. He hadn't done drugs, he never shared blood, the only person he fucked was Seifer...  
"You know enough about it, I think, to tell me why you might have it." Odine went from the nice, if a little strange, doctor, to an almost psychiatrist.  
"My boyfriend, he..."  
"Yes, you'll probably want to discuss it with him. He may have it too."   
Zell put his head in his hands, not knowing what to think. This meant... that Seifer either had slept with someone else or done illegal drugs and shared needles. And Zell was hoping that it was option B.  
He walked into his dorm, answering Seifer's "Hey," with one of his own, and then, "Seifer, we need to talk." 


End file.
